I’ve been writing about Dickinson’s “volcano” poems, particularly “I have never seen ‘Volcanoes,’” a poem written in 1860, the very year that archeological advances in Pompeii were in the news.
In the poem, Dickinson compares the explosive power of a volcano to the “smouldering anguish” under the surface one’s expression while the “Features keep their place.”
Was this autobiographical? Was something going on in Dickinson’s life around 1860? Hmm..what else was written by the poet around that time?
Well, Dickinson wrote the three letters known as the "Master Letters" between 1858 and 1861, letters filled with “smouldering anguish” and addressed to someone referred to only as “Master” (and the recipient’s identity remains unknown to this time).
One of the letters begins with this:
“If you saw a bullet hit a Bird - and he told you he was'nt shot - you might weep at his courtesy, but you would certainly doubt his word.
One drop more from the gash that stains your Daisy's bosom - then would you believe?”
Dickinson’s nickname, by the way, was “Daisy.” What could have happened that she referred to herself as an injured bird?
Later in the letter she wrote this:
“You say I do not tell you all - Daisy confessed - and denied not.
Vesuvious dont talk - Etna - dont - [Thy] one of them - said a syllable - a thousand years ago, and Pompeii heard it, and hid forever - She could'nt look the world in the face, afterward - I suppose - Bashfull Pompeii! 'Tell you of the want' - you know what a leech is, dont you - and [remember that] Daisy's arm is small - and you have felt the horizon hav'nt you - and did the sea - never come so close as to make you dance?”
Still later came this:
“I want to see you more - Sir - than all I wish for in this world - and the wish - altered a little - will be my only one - for the skies.”
In the poem, Dickinson compares the explosive power of a volcano to the “smouldering anguish” under the surface one’s expression while the “Features keep their place.”
Was this autobiographical? Was something going on in Dickinson’s life around 1860? Hmm..what else was written by the poet around that time?
Well, Dickinson wrote the three letters known as the "Master Letters" between 1858 and 1861, letters filled with “smouldering anguish” and addressed to someone referred to only as “Master” (and the recipient’s identity remains unknown to this time).
One of the letters begins with this:
“If you saw a bullet hit a Bird - and he told you he was'nt shot - you might weep at his courtesy, but you would certainly doubt his word.
One drop more from the gash that stains your Daisy's bosom - then would you believe?”
Dickinson’s nickname, by the way, was “Daisy.” What could have happened that she referred to herself as an injured bird?
Later in the letter she wrote this:
“You say I do not tell you all - Daisy confessed - and denied not.
Vesuvious dont talk - Etna - dont - [Thy] one of them - said a syllable - a thousand years ago, and Pompeii heard it, and hid forever - She could'nt look the world in the face, afterward - I suppose - Bashfull Pompeii! 'Tell you of the want' - you know what a leech is, dont you - and [remember that] Daisy's arm is small - and you have felt the horizon hav'nt you - and did the sea - never come so close as to make you dance?”
Still later came this:
“I want to see you more - Sir - than all I wish for in this world - and the wish - altered a little - will be my only one - for the skies.”
| The volcano poem noted at the start of this post (shown at the right) concludes, “If some loving Antiquary / On Resumption Morn / Will not cry with joy ‘Pompeii’! / To the Hills return!” Did Dickinson “Bear within” some “appalling Ordnance” of “Fire, and smoke, and gun,” ready to take a Village for breakfast? In 1860, Emily Dickinson began to withdraw from social life. A timeline on the Emily Dickinson Museum website states this about her life in 1860, “Emily Dickinson’s reclusiveness increases. While the origin of this departure from social life is specifically unknown, Dickinson’s withdrawal from society also marks the beginning of one of her most productive times, artistically.” What do you imagine could have happened? BTW: The “Master” letter quoted above is HERE. |  |
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